
Hellos are far superior to goodbyes
I was snuggled with my husband for a couple minutes before saying goodbye for the day. “Tori can’t say goodbye … Continue reading Hellos are far superior to goodbyes
I was snuggled with my husband for a couple minutes before saying goodbye for the day. “Tori can’t say goodbye … Continue reading Hellos are far superior to goodbyes
Prayers, please! As I type, my friend Connie is at the hospital undergoing surgery to remove a lobe of her lung that encases a nodule. Continue reading Connie’s got this — but pray anyway, please!
“Good morning,” I said as I greeted Connie in the locker room before swim class Wednesday. “How are you?” “Just … Continue reading And the verdict is: It’s NOT cancer!
“Thank God for breast cancer!” Connie told me. It paved the way for her latest adventure. Continue reading The difference between an ordeal and an adventure
False alarm? Perplexed, we resumed eating, when, of course, the driveway alarm sounded again. Continue reading Sound the alarm: the new way to welcome
What I appreciated most about Connie throughout her battle with breast cancer was her transparency. Continue reading When your friend battles breast cancer…
I don’t care if this blog post goes viral, but I sure wish your prayers, good thoughts, fingers crossed or whatever on Connie’s behalf do. Pray for Connie. Spread the word, please. Continue reading Fight breast cancer and carry a big stick…
Sara’s birthday’s in the house. Or gym. Or office. Wherever. Today. Continue reading “Sara’s birthday’s in the house”
What separates those who succeed at their New Year’s resolutions from those who don’t? Some sources indicate that 40 … Continue reading Secrets to success at the gym…
When I saw the brown puddle spreading across my yellow Formica counter, I knew I needed help. The puddle would have … Continue reading Sharon share alike…
*Warning: This blog post has no substance whatsoever. Last year I ordered a pair of boots online, got them, tried … Continue reading Kicking boot and taking aim…
It felt as if I were in Mrs. Repulski’s Advanced Humanities class again. “I’d better explain this better,” my English … Continue reading The view from inside…
Dear Diana, When I awakened at 3:30 a.m. Colorado time, my first thought was that I was glad you weren’t … Continue reading When friendship trumps light…
Driving to work today — the first day of school — I saw the school maintenance man and his son, a high school senior, wheeling their way to the campus. Ken and Matthew didn’t see me, but I was acutely aware of their car, having seen it day in and day out for years, usually traveling the same roads to the same destination. At the traffic light, their little brown Honda turned left; I went straight, heading miles away from the sweet school that has played such a role in my life as a teacher.
School is starting without me. I am a teacher no more. Today’s encounter was a poignant reminder that I am not returning to the classroom, that school is going on without me, that “my” students now belong to another teacher, that I am no longer an integral part of daily life at the Academy. But like our cars on the road, the feeling quickly passed, noticed only by me.
Let me be honest. I am glad I am not returning to the classroom.
This summer, summer break was summer break, not an extensive planning period for the upcoming school year. When I cleaned my classroom and left it for the last time, I didn’t cart home books so I could plan afresh all summer. I didn’t go through the usual cycle of relief, regret, and resolve, the theme of previous summers. For years, my summer would begin with relief that the year was completed. I could clean house, weed, blog, regroup to my heart’s content. Then I would reflect on the school year just completed and begin the regret phase. Instead of focusing on the successes, I would peer intently at the hopes that didn’t become reality. I would experience regret that I hadn’t accomplished all I hoped — instilling in my students a love of reading and writing and seeking truth, and, more important, a passion to protect reading and writing and the pursuit of truth because of what it means in our Christian lives. And then I would resolve — to do things differently, to find that magical secret or system or sequence that would make those high hopes reality.
There is something idealistic about preparing lesson plans in the absence of students. On paper, on my computer, on my course website, I planned a great curriculum woven with creativity and skillful classroom management — the best of all possible classrooms. And then the students would arrive. As Robert Burns said in his poem “To a Mouse,” “The best laid plans of mice and men/Often go awry.”
“Happy Friday!” My step aerobics instructor called out his traditional end-of-the-week greeting before beginning the warm-up. And then he added, … Continue reading A step away from Fridays…
The Temptations got nothin’ on my Aqua Zumba classmates and me. It was a cloudy day even at 6 a.m., … Continue reading I’ve got Zumba on a holiday…
“C-C-C-Cottey, beautiful Cottey, it’s a school of which I’m sure you’ve heard before, If you get good grades, they send … Continue reading Allow and accept…